Gaming veteran leaves EA to form iPhone publishing company

Neil Young, an 11-year veteran at Electronic Arts, has recently left the …

Neil Young, a gaming industry veteran that spent 11 years at Electronic Arts, has announced that his newest venture is a iPhone game publishing company called Ngmoco. According to an interview by Gamasutra, Young left EA to create "a new type of mobile games publisher that is specifically focused on games for the iPhone and beyond."

Young began his career in 1988 programming for UK-based Imagitec. Since then he has worked for Virgin Interactive, ORIGIN Systems, and EA Los Angeles. His most recent position at EA was head of EA Blueprint, a division created to foster smaller development projects. However, Young says that publishing games for the iPhone as a platform requires a more "entrepreneurial focus." Blueprint's focus is not exactly aligned with the iPhone and App Store ecosystem, he says.

The three main things that interested Young in the iPhone platform are the fact that the iPhone is used more often for things other than calls; performance on par with a PSP but "it's got a touchscreen, accelerometers, a camera, it's location-aware, it's got all of your media on it, it's awake with you, it's always on, and it's always connected to the network," and that the App Store redefines the relationship between developers and users. "Honestly, if it wasn't for the advent of the iPhone and the advent of the App Store and the SDK, I would probably still be at Electronic Arts," says Young.

Ngmoco will focus on commissioning, financing, and producing titles—supporting smaller developers with financing and assistance rather than developing games itself. Right now, the company is in talks with developers about its first five projects, but beyond that, Young isn't saying much. The company will be looking at "what's happening in the independent developer community that is a work in progress that might need financing or taking to the next level." If you're looking for some help getting your great iPhone game off the ground, Young might be a good guy to get in touch with.